Louis Sebert

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand that the decline is related to the reduced amount of work required for devolutionrelated issues. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We are hopeful that the renewal of the First Nations Policing Program will result in additional resources being added to detachments serving smaller communities, so we are hopeful and optimistic that the federal government will be coming up with more. I suppose conceivably that would mean we might be coming up with more. I don't think we have really reached that stage in our deliberations with respect to this matter. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The department of Justice currently has three P1 lawyers. They also have three southern Aboriginal lawyers. Of note, there have been two P1 lawyers who have left the department in the recent past for other opportunities. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, in 2016-17, 29 communities have accessed funding for restorative justice programs. There are a few communities that have not. Certainly, I can speak for my former community that the community justice group or panel was very active in the community. Sometimes it is hard to find members who are willing to put in the time that is required. Again, of course, our department wants to develop community-based solutions for minor criminal offences. As I mentioned earlier, a good number of matters are diverted, and this is the ideal type of organization to assist in that method of dealing...

Mr. Chair, I know that the Housing Corporation installed a twobedroom portable unit they allow the police to use for overnight accommodation for the members on patrol. This has made police coverage in Tsiigehtchic better, from what I have heard from the Member. I assume that this would be a longterm lease, but as to the exact term, I am not sure. We are not aware of any plans to discontinue this. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, the estate clerk position is funded from money from Canada and, as it says in the notes, the Government of the Northwest Territories administers the estates of Aboriginal persons. I think that goes back to, perhaps, the Indian Act and the requirements of the federal government, the fiduciary duty they have. So it is part of what the public trustee's office does, but not all. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can advise from my own experience being on town council in Fort Smith that we did receive monthly reports from the RCMP, which involved, I believe, the number of people in custody, the general nature of the charges, whether they were traffic-related or crime-related. I can't speak for every community, but certainly in the larger communities I am quite sure there is that information provided to council. I would like to think that it would be provided to all of the communities, but I am not absolutely certain of that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, the services in the communities, whether small or large, will not be affected. I understand that the decline in the amount is largely as a result of the construction of the new police detachment in Inuvik, so we are not anticipating cutting service in any way. Thank you.

I'm sure committee would not want us to make any rash decisions on this. I do appreciate that this is an ongoing problem, but I don't think there's been a sudden spike in the issues that the Member quite properly raised in the House. So, I mean, I don't think that amount of time is unusual or unexpected. The point is that we do realize there may be an issue here, and if it is determined that we should hire a second rental officer, we can certainly look at that in the business plan.

Again, I don't see this as a crisis or anything that has happened recently. Maybe it's more of a long-term issue...

Mr. Chair, I am not aware of the policing agreements with every community. I imagine they have a certain amount of similarity to them. Again, there may be a bit of a disconnect between the number of calls and the number of patrols, but that may be the nature of the calls. Again, the police always have to make a determination of whether a call merits a patrol apart from their regular patrols. Thank you, Mr. Chair.